To ask if all new build estates are awful

[stellartuesday]

We moved into our house 2 years ago. We weren't really looking for a new build but there was nothing on the market. The house itself is lovely. Fairly spacious as new builds go and no major snags but the estate - MY GOD! It's a dump.

It's still a complete building site. There's loud construction work going on most weekdays, then in the evenings/weekends large groups of kids loiter in the cul-de-sac, often screaming their heads off until 10pm, kicking footballs onto our drive and dropping litter everywhere.
Today I came home and someone was parked over my drive and it just tipped me over the edge as it seems no one has any respect for eachother!

I've previously lived in 2 major cities before I moved to DH's hometown, so I'm used to living in close proximity to others but I can't get a moments peace here! It was quieter living in a city centre.
I visited a couple of friends at the weekend and it was pure bliss. I could actually sit in the garden and hear nothing but the birds tweeting. It was very disappointing to return home to a digger parked outside my front window, loads of litter near my drive and 8 teens screaming whilst taking turns in pushing eachother round on an office chair, which they have now dumped outside.

I noticed houses on new build estates always seem to be up for sale. Are they all horrible or am I just unlucky?

Our new estate is lovely and the people are friendly

Can't think why anyone would think all new estates must be awful - is this sone new class thing ?

@NotADailyMailJournalist Slums of the future.
People who buy new builds have no souls!
From an estate agent I know.

This has made me chuckle 🤭

What is the reason for that?
As you don't need an estate agent to buy a new build?

I'm currently in my 11th year of being in my new build. We were one of the first ones here and liked watching our estate develop. It's not a huge estate and it has a play park.
It is in an 'area of redevelopment' that's why we bought our house a lot cheaper than the rest of the estate...the house prices rised as the estate developed.
We have extended our house and have no maintenance fees.

In the town I live in they have built a couple of large estates in the last 3 years. One right next to a less salubrious area (high crime rates, decades as a reputation of being rough). The new estate is huge and a rabbit warren and I think it's a recipe for disaster - bored teens, drug dealers from the old estate taking their business across the road etc. There have been a couple of dawn raids there already. The other smaller estate on the other side of town seems to attract bored teens from quite a wide area. Again, the fact it's out of town and away from where police patrol (yes, we still have a community team here) seems to attract them. I'm not sure what the answer is as the town does need more homes but building endless cul de sacs is not it.

Cup de sacs round here and everyone loves the fact that there isn't tons of through traffic

People walking around probably does more to deter drug dealing and anti social behaviour

In general it’s period properties which command a premium in the uk.

@MoserRothOrangeandAlmond said Estate Agent is a bit fed up of trying to sell "former new builds" ie when someone has lived in it for 2-5 years and then is fucked off it won't sell!

There is one near us and it is MASSIVE. It's just houses, houses and more houses, all branching off of one long road. There's no shop or other amenities within walking distance but there is a playpark with no busy roads nearby. Very few pavements, need to own a car to get anywhere. The houses look lovely, but how many families really need all the 5-6 bedroom models?

In general it’s period properties which command a premium in the uk.

Depends on the condition, period and area. But considering everyone moans how "overpriced" they are, and not an investment etc etc you can describe them as commanding a premium.

My friend moved to one and her house is lovely. Sadly there’s a small block of one bedroom flats at the end of her cul de sac where homeless people and ex criminals are housed. The worst guy is back in prison right now so it’s calmed down but they had knife crimes and drugs/turf wars all in a very expensive new build cul de sac.

There’s a posher one which is architecturally beautiful. We don’t own a bmw so I’m not sure we’d fit it. It’s certainly attracted a certain type.

Mine is lovely

I personally don’t like them at all, a friend lives on one which is probably fairly naice as they go and on the outskirt of a posh town but has a bland, soulless feel and look.

I do think they get a bad rep as generally they have to include a certain amount of social housing so can be pretty mixed in terms of the type of residents. I live in a city centre so more than used to colourful neighbours, but at least on my street the houses all look different and there’s amenities.

If anyone has seen the Jesse Eisenberg/Imogen Poots film Vivarium, that’s a good illustration of what I don’t like about them!

My brother moved into one last year and it's tiny. There's no room to extend anywhere and if you did,ie extension up,it would look odd as all the houses look the same. Characterless :(

Varies.

I have lived on a new build estate which was horrible, all too closely built, not enough parking, anti social behaviour, thousands of houses....

Now, my house is on a small new build estate, lots of space, big gardens, no anti social behaviour, tons of parking - it's really nice

I wouldn't buy on a huge new estate again, smaller ones seem to be better designed

We moved to a very large new estate from a small village when we had our first child. Do I miss the beautiful village and the village community? Definitely. Do I miss living in a beautiful old house which turned out to be an absolute money pit and a well of continuous anxiety? Not so much.

For us, it’s about compromise. We’ve gone from needing 2 cars and having to drive to buy a pint of milk, to shops, nursery and train station within a short walk. The house is big, modern and well-insulated, so heating bills have dropped. Yes it’s a bit soulless, there are occasionally noisy teenagers and there’s still a bit of construction work going on in odd places. But, putting it bluntly, we can’t afford our dream house in our dream location with our dream lifestyle, so we’ve made choices to optimise for where our lives are now.

Threads like this make me appreciate my 1950s construction house, I'm so grateful for it. We're nearly done paying off the mortgage, too.

These days it's all about cramming in as many people as possible into tiny spaces. Humans don't like being packed in like sardines. There's a reason why train commuters are stressed and anxious, the result will nigh-on always be anti-social behaviour and obnoxious attitudes from people and this translates just the same with people crammed into highly built-up areas.

I'm also noticing new builds tend to look like they were designed by the same metropolitan architects. Some of these new builds I hate to say look not too dissimilar to prisons. They just don't have that rustic quality older buildings do. I find this is the same with cars and clothing. Even the colours don't 'pop' anymore. Everything looks the same. It's like we've lost the skills and ability to construct pretty things. We don't know how to make nice, high-quality, long-lasting things anymore.

@VolvoFan Threads like this make me appreciate my 1950s construction house, I'm so grateful for it. We're nearly done paying off the mortgage, too.

👏 well, bully for you

I tend to agree @VolvoFan . Even some of the working class tenement type housing eg Peabody Trust early last century has more natural character and style. They even manage to have more of a sense of privacy and community somehow! I feel the same way about modern cars really; most are ugly and they all look more or less the same. We need more beauty. I suspect a lot of the new-builds are based on formula architectural plans constantly copied to save money and effort.

All houses were new builds once...

My 1930s solid built proper house will be standing long after the McWimpey wendyhouses have crumpled into dust.

I’ve bought a period money pit and I now wish I’d bought a new build

I've worked with all major house builders and wouldn't buy a house from any of them. But the idea of living on an estate really doesn't appeal to me at all anyway.

I'm sure some estates are better than others.

I have as well and I hate my money pit house, however I wouldn’t want to live on an estate. My friend lives on a large one and has all the problems that the op describes. Lots of problems with kids (she has installed CCTV), lack of privacy, they are constantly adding more houses to the estate. I did look at a house there, but I have 3 kids, and the estate agent told me I’d have kids constantly knocking even in the evening. It really depends on how you like living, it’s not for me but others I know love it 🤷🏼‍♀️.

What on earth is a turkey teeth brigade?

I don't know either 😅
I thought it might be something to do with going to Turkey for cheap cosmetic surgery. Like getting unnaturally white teeth?

Yeah. We're the living dead! 🧟

Our (bit of) the estate we're on is lovely. We're on the edge, however, opposite miles and miles of fields, so it feels very countryside-y. Our neighbours are nice enough in general (apart from the one with the CF parking BF!) and we all take parcels in, and take turns to take bins back to each other's back gates. Could be worse.

I don't know what the centre of the estate is like though. The parking was a shocker going through the estate, but they've painted double yellows (which are ignored by some!). I guess everywhere has a proportion of knobheads though!